Right to Buy denied strange grounds

Rou

Hi all , I’ve lived in my property since 1978 we were the first tenants to move in while the flats were actually being finished being built.

I have the preserved right to buy we have had 4 separate right to buy successfully offered to us throughout the last decade , we weren’t financially secure enough at the time to accept once the final price offers were made.

The last being in 2010

this year we wanted to go ahead and it’s a new team but they have denied us saying we weren’t part of the original stock transfer from our original housing society who ran along side the council who were then taken over by a housing trust.

we explained to them that we have the right and have the paperwork to show our previous acceptance offers and secured tenancy.

because the tenancy shows Russell housing society they claim this doesn’t prove you were housed by the council.

we explained that first of all they were housing people with the council and that all other tenants who were housed with us in the flats had the RTB and have done and how can they explain the 4 separate occasions previously where we have been accepted without any issues??

they can’t locate the old records from 1978 and now are refusing us the RTB.

very distressing and stressful can anyone advise.

Rou

basically apparently I need to show them the connection between Russell Housing & Harrow Council as there system can’t see it suddenly, where as the previous 4 applications went through fine.

(they ranged from 1991,2004,2006,2010)

but this team seem to have an issue suddenly.

Chandler85

So, the way the Housing Associations and councils work is usually a Housing Associations takes over the housing from the council, tenancy and all.  On their system, almost every house/ tenancy will have the RTB ticked, so they have a system they can easily check who has the Right To Buy, who has Right To Acquire etc.

You mustn't be shown as having the RTB, find your old tenancy agreements with the council from as far back as possible to prove you have always been a tenant and they cannot dispute it in anyway.  Otherwise you'll have to go through their complaints probably and let them search through archives etc to prove that you have the RTB, which won't be quick.

The HAs have a responsibility to ensure that they only sell to people with a RTB at the time the application/ request is, not just because in the past you were offered it, basically to make sure they hadn't made a mistake in the past.

davidmcn

I expect the HA and/or the council will be able to figure it out from their archives, but likely they don't have easy access to those at the moment.

HampshireH

Do the HA not have a copy of your old tenancy agreement as part of your records as this will have the council's name on it.

Rou

Hi guys thanks for the reply , the issue is on our tenancy it says Russell housing and not directly harrow council , at the time Russell housing had purchased land and built the flats jointly with harrow council , hence other neighbours who came here with us at the same time with the same tenancy took up their right to buy in 1980s and they have Russell housing on their tenancy exactly like ours , the issue is the records for the RTB team don’t go far back enough anymore to find the connection between Russell housing and harrow council.

We live in an estate where numerous residents took up the RTB based on the identical tenancy that is secured and says Russell housing.

hence the acceptance without issue over the decade from 1991 all the way through to 2010 four separate teams have never had an issue never had an issue , except now 

HampshireH

If your tenancy has always been with Russell and never with the council how was the stock transferred?

Most stock transfers would have a council tenancy and then a new HA tenancy.

Does your agreement make reference anywhere to being a council tenant?

If not they could be correct. If they build the houses then they wouldn't have need to participate in stock transfer as they already owned them.

Rou

HampshireH said:

If your tenancy has always been with Russell and never with the council how was the stock transferred?

Most stock transfers would have a council tenancy and then a new HA tenancy.

Does your agreement make reference anywhere to being a council tenant?

If not they could be correct. If they build the houses then they wouldn't have need to participate in stock transfer as they already owned them.

Hiya , we moved in , in 1978 it was transferred to a housing association in 1984 that was Metropoitan housing trust.

also I’m thinking they could base it on us being housed by harrow council previous to even moving into these flats.

if we were housed by harrow council in our home prior to 1978 and then moved to these flats (o. The premise that they are a housing association) would that still also count towards giving us the RTB? 🤔 

Rou

HampshireH said:

Do the HA not have a copy of your old tenancy agreement as part of your records as this will have the council's name on it.

Doesn’t show harrow council on it only Russell housing

HampshireH

If your tenancy agreement was never a council tenancy i.e. you went from Russell Housing to Metropolitan Housing then it is unlikely you have a preserved right to buy. 

The PRTB was given those with a secure council tenancy who then transferred to a housing association.

Based on what you are saying it doesn't sound like you ever had a secure council tenancy but that you had a housing association tenancy and were transferred to another association.?

Russell Housing brings up nothing on Google so I haven't been able to look further.

What does your tenancy agreement say? Is it a secure tenancy? Does it mention a preserved right to buy?

Rou

HampshireH said:

If your tenancy agreement was never a council tenancy i.e. you went from Russell Housing to Metropolitan Housing then it is unlikely you have a preserved right to buy. 

The PRTB was given those with a secure council tenancy who then transferred to a housing association.

Based on what you are saying it doesn't sound like you ever had a secure council tenancy but that you had a housing association tenancy and were transferred to another association.?

Russell Housing brings up nothing on Google so I haven't been able to look further.

What does your tenancy agreement say? Is it a secure tenancy? Does it mention a preserved right to buy?

Hi Hampshire,

back then in 1978 the right to buy didn’t exist so wouldn’t be mentioned on the tenancy as we only have our original tenancy that was ours from 1978 , it is a secured tenancy as we became a tenant with the trust prior to 1989 and that outlines those who are secured tenants.

Many tenants have purchased through the right to buy scheme here who were here like us through Russel housing as Russell housing was in partnership  with harrow council at the time.

yea I too found it hard to find anything on google but we have a lot of paperwork and it’s on the original tenancy, any idea how to look up old companies or the history of ownership of the Property? I’ve looked at land registry but seems basic.

overall we know we have the tight to buy as we said historically all the tenants have known we have had it as we made sure that it was preserved before we went over to the housing association it was discussed in-depth. The issue is the housing trust merged with Thames valley later down the line. 

It’s them who can’t locate the history